Excerpt from Sunlight Foundation
By Josh Stewart, Drew Doggett and Ben Berliner
Lobbyists wield enormous influence and, depending on your point of view, can bring positive or negative changes to our government. From reptile keepers to balloon enthusiasts, everyone has a constitutional right to petition government. The power some lobbyists hold over both parties in Congress and the White House is well documented. But what's not well documented is how lobbyists play a role in the Democratic party’s nominating process.
RELATED: ‘Man of the People’ Bernie Sanders Makes Deal With the DNC
As Libby Watson noted earlier this year, most delegates to the Democratic National Convention, held this year in Philadelphia, are allocated based on the vote share from primaries and caucuses held in individual states, territories and the District of Columbia. But there are also 712 so-called voting superdelegates.